In a statement on the incident this evening, Commander Stuart Cundy, said: "Police officers were amongst those who saw the drone and a full criminal investigation has been launched. We are carrying out extensive searches around the Heathrow area to identify any people who may be responsible for the operation of the drone.

“I want to be clear that the illegal operation of drones at an airfield is extremely dangerous. Under the Aviation Security Act it is an offence to endanger the safety of an aircraft, anyone found guilty of this offence could face a life sentence.

“We are deploying significant resources - both in terms of officers and equipment - to monitor the airspace around Heathrow and to quickly detect and disrupt any illegal drone activity; some of which are as a result of learning from the incidents at Gatwick.

“Following today's sighting, military assistance has been implemented to support us. However, we will not be discussing in any further detail the range of tactics available to us as this would only serve to potentially undermine their effectiveness."

Met Police are working with Heathrow to investigate the drone sighting

He added: "We are determined to identify anyone who may have been involved in today's incident and I would urge anybody who may have information that could assist our investigation to call 101 quoting Heathrow drone incident."

Earlier this evening, Heathrow Airport said: "We continue to work closely with the Met Police to respond to reports of drones at Heathrow.

"Based on standard operating procedures, working with Air Traffic Control and the Met Police, we have resumed departures out of Heathrow following a short suspension.

"We continue to monitor this situation and apologise to any passengers that were affected by this disruption."

Chris Grayling: “We are in contact with @HeathrowAirport concerning the drone sighting. I have already spoken to both the Home Secretary and Defence Secretary and the military are preparing to deploy the equipment used at Gatwick at Heathrow quickly should it prove necessary.”

Metropolitan Police helicopter was hovering over the airport, witnesses said

“We were meant to be taxi-ing for taking off and but are not at the stand on the plane. I think everyone was a bit ‘here we go again’

“The idea of being stuck on the tarmac for ages is not appealing. I think we all know this could be a long wait or a cancelled flight. It’s a bit cold on here so coats on. People are getting fidgety now and going to the loo.”

The halting of Heathrow departures comes just weeks after 140,000 passengers had their Christmas travel plans plunged into chaos by drones at Gatwick Airport.

Some 1,000 flights were cancelled or diverted while police investigated dozens of sightings during three days of disruptions.

The £2.6million technology uses a radio frequency jammer to crash drones.

Following the end to the initial drone-related disturbance at Gatwick, Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "I can say that we are able to now deploy detection systems throughout the UK to combat this threat."

On Tuesday, the Government announced a package of measures designed to give police extra powers to combat drones.

The exclusion zone around airports will be extended to approximately a 5km-radius (3.1-miles), with additional extensions from runway ends.

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Fines of up to £100 could be given for offences such as failing to comply with a police officer when instructed to land a drone, or not showing their registration to operate a drone.

But drone expert Richard Gill told The Sun all airports urgently needed jamming technology to stop unmanned craft from getting close to runways.

He said: “Legislation is not enough. Airports have got to have the technology that’s already out there.”

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